USF Confederacy by pompey2 - Model Shipways - Scale 1:64

[Trussben]

Very nice work on your Confed so far, I will enjoy watching your progress.

 

Ben

[pompey2]

Thanks for the comment and likes. 

 

So, to continue.

I have opted to go the 'glued paper' route for simulating Caulking.

I sourced some thin(ish) black paper for this.

Here's my process.

I have moved on now to planking the Beakhead, Deck and Bulkhead.

So I cut my planking into approx length strips, painted some black paper with a 50/50 PVA and water mix.

Then stood one edge of the planks onto the paper, weighted them down and left to dry.

Once dry I used a scalpel to cut the plank from the paper.

Here is the deck with the planks rough length.

Then the Bulkhead and all of the lengths sanded to shape .

And then I put in liners to the two external doors.

Next Job is planking the stern lower counter.

First made up a little width bend jig to get the bend repeatable.

And I started laying the planks in place.

I made up the closed ports as I went.

The rough ends still so they need finishing to length and a good sanding across the faces.

 

Onto next post.

 

 

 

[pompey2]

I have now painted the gun port linings with a bunch of thinned coats of red ochre.

And now I've started the hull planking proper.

Another batten put in place to guide the top of the first strake which is the topmost wale strake.

Then the first plank.

I am using some plank clamps I made up.

They are two parts with a notch cut out to push the plank on and up.

One part has a half round at the back to provide a pivot and a normal spring clamp keeps it in place.

The inner faces have sandpaper glued on to give some friction.

For some of the more gentle curves I am using a flexible curve to form the wet plank.

And for the tighter curves, especially when I want to keep them consistent I made a jig.

This one is for the bow curve.

Continuing with the first strake.

Then I tackled the problem of planks needing a partial twist along their length, generally for the stern.

So after a lot of thinking time and rummaging through various boxes in the garage I came up with this.

 A base with a line of holes to accommodate different lengths.

The a piece of plastic pipe placed in an old armour cable cleat, that allows the tube to be rotated and then fixed.

I turned a few bits of dowel to be a snug fit into the pipe and glued them in place.

Then cut a half round out of the protruding pieces of dowel.

This setup now allows me to clamp a plank at one end onto a dowel flat.

Then clamp the other end to the flat of a rotated dowel. Planks soaked, then clamped overnight.

After drying overnight I get a twisted plank.

I also made up another clamp which was the same except it has a slot right through the centre.

That allows a longer plank to have a twist starting part way down.

 

That bring me pretty much up to date now, so thanks for calling in.

 

Nick

 

[pompey2]

Hi Dirk

 

Yes, I used the plans to establish the top of the Wales, It was not in the marked position according to the bulkheads.

 

Nick

[Seventynet]

Lovely work Nick. I'm learning all sorts of tricks here. I'm sorry that I hadn't cottoned on to this build until now. I hope there is space for me to squeeze in another chair.

 

Best, ian

[pompey2]

So to pick up the thread.

A couple of views with the first strake now added.

And one from the bow

Thinking about the seep port lids.

I think I will get a better fit by putting lids in place first and planking up to them.

Leaving gaps and creating lids to fit afterwards seems harder to me.

So to get them all a consistent size I made a batch up from three strips glued together.

I cut them off the strips and here I have them clamped together and I'm bench sanding the side faces to size.

And here they are ready to go.

I will adjust top and bottoms to suit each position as I fit them.

Continuing with planking up towards the sweep lids.

Then as I reach the marked port positions I can cut out using the lid as a guide.

Then trim the height and place the lid.

Continuing planking and placing the sweep lids as I go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[pompey2]

To continue.

Here we are with the sweep lids now in place.

I can now plank between them.

Planking around the bow.

And the stern.

I am now past the sweep ports.

Here's how they look once done, still need sanding.

And a close up.

Before continuing up onto the channel wales I gave the first set of strakes a rough sanding.

I will do a finer sanding later as a whole.

I'm now up to the gun ports and the last two strakes will be the first layer of the channel wales.

The planks I'm using are a little wider than those in the instructions so I have had to play around with the number of strakes a bit.

I've also done a first batch of tree nailing to confirm pitches and effect.

Here they are, not filled yet.

Next task is to plank around the gun ports, I have some ideas on how to do that.

I will catch up when I have some more progress to show.

 

Nick

 

 

 

 

[Moonbug]

   Nice approach Nick, and smooth work!

[pompey2]

Time for an update i think.

Now I'm up to the bottom of the gun ports and doing some trimming around them, leaving a small rebate.

Progressed up and around the ports.

 

I'm matching progress on both sides, here is the Starboard.

I'm up to the Waist and you can see the gaps I've left for the sheaves.

 

And a big closer in.

Port side, started putting in the Sheaves.

And the other sheaves looking forward.

Getting towards the top of the Quarterdeck, cutting around Q-Deck ports, no rebate on these.

Also added some stock to the tops of the rails so that I can sand them back down to match the top most plank.

That's me now planked from main Whale upwards.

Port....

And Starboard.

Some high planks visible but they will get addressed next.

Will continue on next post directly.

Nick

 

[pompey2]

I've taken advantage of a bit of nice weather to get her out side for some full on sanding.

 

And Port.

I always leave strakes over length until after the majority of sanding has been done, you can see them here at the Beakhead Bulkhead.

I find that there can be a tendency when sanding to 'drop off' the end edge, that then leaves an unwanted thinned section / radius.

This way you can trim afterwards and keep a consistent surface.

 

Similar on the end of the strakes at the stern.

 

OK that's most of the heavy duty sanding done.

I will do some more finer sanding later.

So back inside.

Here's a bit of a close up.

I added simulated sheaves into the shells.

But the sanding has taken off a bit of the radius so I have dug them out and will redo them later.

I'm pretty pleased with the planking so far and loving the hard maple.

Also happy with the results of the paper caulking, it gives a nice consistent line, especially after sanding.

A shot on the Bow.

Time to get onto tree nailing.

I mulled over the decision a lot earlier on but decided to nail based on the look of Chuck's results.

Here is a bunch of holes being drilled, I stopped short of the area's that will get painted, no point in wasting effort.

Some of these were filled previously to check the look.

I am finding it difficult to pick a filler to use, I only want a very subtle different shade not an obvious black dot.

But what was really weird was my problem was the reverse of what I expected.

I have so far bought three different natural/pine/light wood fillers and tried them out.

But they are all really good matches to the maple.

Two of them to the extend that you cant actually see the 'nails' unless you get really close.

So I need to continue to look and find one a little off shade.

Mind you the filler that is such a good match will have some benefits 

And continuing along (someone switched the lights out!!)

I admit I was not looking forward to drilling thousands of very little holes at all.

But thanks to MSW I read a post about a little drill, actually for manicures.

So I hunted a through a big range on Amazon and picked one that is USB rechargeable, three speed and with a proper collett arrangement (many have just a pinch screw)

It was quite cheap really, about £20.

And I have to say it's a complete joy.

Very light, you hold it like a pen so has loads of control.

Takes my shanked drills, charge hold ages.

I shot through the drilling, a full side was three evenings work, about 4 hours.

Here is the item in question, the charging lead comes out obviously.

 

 

That's me about up to date.

Thanks for stopping by

 

Nick

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tigersteve]

Nice!

Steve

[RichieG]

Nick, I think it looks fabulous! (I have this model on the shelf, but I don't see myself getting to it for quite a while)

As far as the trenailing goes, are you going to stain the hull? Because then the question isn't so much how different the filler looks as how it differently it takes up stain. Also, had you considered sticking a sharp pencil into each hole and giving it spin? I tried that, and it gave a nice subtle black ring that outlines the trenail, (which matches the caulking between the hull planks in concept) even though the filler itself blends in with the surrounding hull.

[pompey2]

Hi Richie.

I am doing similar to your suggestion of a pencil, I use an awl / bradawl.

A light push in, quarter turn and out leaves a nice clean hole.

 

Nick

[Tigerdvr]

Pompey, as a brother Confederacy builder I am enjoying browsing your log. I was looking at your beakhead bulkhead planking. Something didn't seem right. I checked further, the planking should be 1/8 x 1/32. I think yours is a bit wide. You have helped me find an oversight on my bulkhead, I goofed and used 1/8 x 1/16. If that is my biggest error I would be happy. Keep up the good work.

Cheers, Harley

[pompey2]

Nice spot Harley, I think you're right.

I don't think it will be a big deal so I don't propose making a change.

I'm sure there will many more places I will mess up yet

 

Thanks for taking the time

 

Nick

[pompey2]

I'm afraid it's been a while since I updated my build log.

But here we go with a few posts to bring it up to date.

This where I had go to.

All the above wales planking is now drilled for tree nails.

And I then sanded back and rounded out the holes with an awl.

Now they have been filled and again sanded back.

Next thing was to add the main wales.

For the strakes at the bow some special treatment is required.

First I need to edge bend them.

I have a jig with a couple of suitable radius guides glued on.

Put in the plank and use my hot air gun to heat it up, then gently push in the loose outer guide and clamp in place.

Once cool (I tend to leave for at least an hour but not really necessary) the plank comes out.

There is always a bit of spring back but that was allowed for with the guide.

Then I use the hot air gun to gradually work the required radius in for the planks position.

This method allows me to constantly try and adjust till I'm happy, heat it up - flex or twist a bit by hand - try in place - repeat.

Here is the wale at the bow finished.

And at the stern.

Because the wale will be painted I have been able to use a bit of filler to fill any small gaps etc.

 

Nick

[pompey2]

to continue-

Main wale both sides now sanded back and a small radius sanded in top and bottom.

Next job, remove some of the capping structure where it crosses the higher gun ports.

Here's on done and one waiting, first carefully saw them out.

Then a gentle sand back to shape.

The paint gets a touch up a bit later.

Now I can get prepared for some painting.

I am giving the painted surfaces a coat or two of Shellac sanding sealer, then a very fine grit sanding.

First time I have used this but I am pleased with how it worked out.

Here you can see the Wale coated and the upper works.

Bit of a jump forward.

But hull masked and 20 coats of thinned (quite a lot) Admiralty dull black acrylic applied.

I used an air brush.

But I think that it will be the last time I do use the air brush.

I have been finding that the many thinned coat approach gives a perfectly satisfactory finish with a brush.

The Air brush is, to be quite honest a huge P.I.T.A.

Extra masking, dedicated painting area, constant clean between coats, who needs it.

Another shot from the bow.

[pompey2]

And yet more-

Here's the finished paint job.

 

I have now moved on to the Channel Wales.

They have been cut bent and glued on.

Here I have masked the painted surfaces so that I can sand the Wales without a risk of marking the paint.

Now, after sanding them down I am giving them the tree nail treatment.

I used a piece of masking tape to mark the drill line as I went.

Now the Channel Wales have been fully tree nailed, filled and sanded.

You can also see here the Black Strake above the Main Wales, ironically not actually painted black.

I put this on after the painting so that I could get a sharp paint edge.

It is thinner than the Wale so I made them up fully, complete with tree nailing and sanding before fitting.

Finally to bring me right up to date.

These are the fancy profiles to go along the painted upper hull sides.

I have used Chucks scraper, supplied with the kit, to make the shape.

Here they are getting a coat of Danish oil before fitting.

I will be using Danish Oil for finishing all of the bare woodwork.

 

Thanks for dropping by

 

Nick

 

[Tigersteve]

Extremely sharp work!

Steve